Curtiss A. This pic taken sometime in the mid 80s, I’m guessin

The greatest singer Mpls has ever produced, bar none. The best Shinders Readmore employee of all time. My personal rock n roll idol for nearly 30 years. All of these things wrapped up in one god-like package: Curt Almsted.

Curt gets some pub this week in City Pages. Looky here.

Curtiss A hates you, but probably not as much as he hates, say, Dr. Phil and, for sure, not as much as he hates Republicans–as demonstrated by the 53-year-old rocker/artist/local legend’s latest creation, a T-shirt emblazoned with “Kill Republicans, Not Mourning Doves” on the front, and “Start With Norm” on the back.

This is a column about Curt’s obsession with Jeopardy!, and he’ll get to that, but first…

“Have we forgotten that all Republicans are criminals?” he rants. “Reagan? Iran-Contra? I don’t care how much everybody likes him and thinks he looks like Superman. Fuck him. Fuck Nancy. Fuck Laura [Bush], Nancy, the Bush twins; they should all be eviscerated. And Norm Coleman is spawn of the devil. If more people in Minnesota like Norm Coleman than Al Franken, then we have stopped being Minnesota Nice and we are Minnesota Satan-Worshipper. I…hate…him…more than life itself.”

He bows his head and cackles, perhaps knowing how his words will look in print, but more likely because he doesn’t give a shit. As usual, Curt is in his own world, standing in his basement playhouse amid thousands of superhero action figures, found-art works, and items of rock memorabilia that would be the supreme envy of any pop-art museum curator. But you can’t go see it, because he hates you and because he doesn’t want anyone but his family to know where he lives.

I don’t care. Go ahead and hate us all, Curt. I love you. Always have. Always will. And not just because of that time when I ran into you on Hennepin Avenue and it’d been over 7 years since the last time we met, and the first thing you said to me was “Hey, I saw you on Jeopardy!” Whatta guy. See ya Dec. 8.

Posted: September 30th, 2004 under Curt Almsted, General.
Comments: none

The other day when I was at one of the Kerry campaign offices, I overheard a campaign worker’s side of a phone conversation about lawn signs. I learned afterwards that the caller was asking for a replacement lawn sign, because overnight her first sign had been torn into pieces and strewn around her front yard. The campaign worker was saying something like: Oh, don’t worry about signs; the signs aren’t important. Voting November 2nd is important. Getting people to the polls is important.

…And I know that’s true, it’s ultimately all about the voting, but I don’t think we should discount the rallying effect of lawn signs –and bumper stickers, too. I would have told that caller: Okay, we’ll get you another lawn sign today. And if that one gets destroyed or taken we’ll get you another one. And another one, if need be.
There’s a real effect to be taken from the sight of your candidate’s signs.

The feeling that you’re going it alone is scary and discouraging for a lot of people, maybe for most people. We want to feel like we’re part of a group; a groundswell; a movement. Belongingness. Signs invoke that feeling.

I live in a notably republican redzone suburb, and there have been days when I’ve seen 4 Bush/Cheney signs or bumperstickers for every 1 Kerry sign just during my 10-minute morning commute. Then another 4 or 5 BC signs in the afternoon, with 1 or 2 Kerry/Edwards signs, tops. Lately, tho, I’d say in the past 2 weeks, the numbers are changing. Most mornings now, I see more of an equal number of B/C and K/E signs, and the parking lots at my workplace have seen an explosion of Kerry bumperstickers; now there must be dozens.

Weekend before last, when I went to a volunteering/organizing meeting at one of the large suburban high schools, as I walked through the main parking lot towards the school auditorium it was all I could do to keep from breaking down and bawling. Not at the sight of anything discouraging or disheartening. In fact, just the opposite. There must be at least 700 parking spaces around that school, and on that Saturday morning every space was filled, and virtually every car had a Kerry/Edwards bumpersticker. The school auditorium was packed. It looked like there were at least 1000 people there. And that meeting was only one of about a dozen that were being held that day all across the state.
I paused for a few seconds in the middle of the parking lot and mentally did my little Ian McKellen impersonation: Gandalf watches the beacons being lit, one after the other, and murmurs “Hope is kindled!”

I just believe there’s real power in a simple concept like campaign signs. Between the sight of growing numbers of Kerry signs, and the responses I’m hearing on my phonebank shifts, I’m encouraged mightily. If you should hear some Bush blowhards holding forth on how their beloved Bunnypants Chimpbot and Unca Dick “dick” Cheney are ‘pulling ahead’ or ‘gaining momentum’, or some such crap, don’t waver. They’re blowing smoke. Excelsior!

Posted: September 27th, 2004 under General.
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Worked the phonebank yesterday from 5 to 8 pm. Made about 100 calls, most of which were Nobody Home or Refused [to answer the questions we were asking]. There were also about a dozen Bad Numbers. My final tally for the day was 31 Completes, where the person answered the questions:

Thinking about this year’s presidential race, are you willing to say at this point if you are leaning towards one candidate? [If they say yes, ask them which candidate they are leaning towards] Would you say you are a ‘Strong Supporter of’, or ‘Leaning Towards’?

We don’t identify ourselves as being with the Kerry campaign unless the respondent says they are undecided, or that they are just leaning towards one of the candidates. If their response is “strong supporter” of GWB or anybody other than Kerry [I haven't heard anyone mention Nader's name even once, so far] we don’t engage, but simply thank them for their time and end by saying ‘Have a nice evening’. I mark those responses as “strong supporter of Bush” on my tally sheet. If the respondent says right off that they are “strong supporter of Kerry” I ask ‘em if they’d like to join us working on the phone bank one night this week, or volunteer in some other way.

If the respondent says they are ‘undecided’ or just ‘leaning’ to one candidate or another, I then say something like “Well, I’m supporting John Kerry and John Edwards, because I believe George Bush has made a lot of wrong choices in these past four years — wrong choices about fighting terror; about war in Iraq; about the economy; about healthcare; about homeland security. I believe John Kerry and John Edwards have a better plan that’s going to get America moving in the right direction.”

[I say just about exactly those words, actually. I try to put all my sincerity into it, because I really believe it, for one thing -- and besides, everyone can tell if you're just "phoning it in" as it were, and don't believe in the message. I believe the message, dammit!]

I then conclude by asking : “Can I count on you to vote for John Kerry on November 2?” and mark down what their response is now: are they still undecided? still leaning? leaning towards a different candidate? changed from ‘leaning’ to ’strong supporter’?

These are pretty short phone calls; we don’t engage in argument or press a huge long spiel on them. It’s all about reaching out to the voters, but also absolutely treating them with respect. I mean, how many of us would pause even long enough for a 1 minute phone call during evening dinnertime? I thank the respondent and make every effort to be courteous, and gracious, and quick.

There were about 9 of us working on the phones yesterday, and I can’t say how the totals came out for the others, but for my 31 it broke out like this:

13 Strongly Support Kerry
3 Leaning Kerry
10 Strongly Support Bush
2 Leaning Bush
2 Undecided
1 “Will Not Vote; Too Disgusted.”

So, buck up! Have hope!

Posted: September 27th, 2004 under General.
Comments: none

Just put in a Hold request at the Hennepin County Library for Sinclair Lewis’ 1935 novel It Can’t Happen Here. I really want to read this book, after reading this Maureen Farrell article over on BuzzFlash.

I’m fourth in line to get it, so I must not be the only one in town thinking about parallels between Lewis’ fascist President Windrip and our present-day Preznit W. It’s odd, tho, that here on Sinclair Lewis‘ home turf, the land of Sauk Centre/Gopher Prairie and its Main Street, that the biggest library system in the state only has ONE copy of this particular Sinclair Lewis novel.

An excerpt from Charles Häberl’s review on Amazon:

Surprisingly, Sinclair Lewis’ darkly humorous tale of a fascist takeover in the US, “It Can’t Happen Here,” is not merely out-of-print, but also quite hard to find. As dated as it is (1935), its themes will be quite familiar to Americans today. It starts with the highly contested election of an oafish yet strangely charismatic president, who talks like a “reformer” but is really in the pocket of big business, who claims to be a home-spun “humanist,” while appealing to religious extremists, and who speaks of “liberating” women and minorities, as he gradually strips them of all their rights.

Note: “It Can’t Happen Here” is still out of print, apparently. The edition Amazon offers today came out in 1993, but fortunately there must be a sizable number of new & used copies in stock.
Read the whole review here.

Even better, then go read another Maureen Farrell article When Fascism Comes To America.

Posted: September 25th, 2004 under General.
Comments: none

I know I feel vaguely honored that Norbizness included me in a list of commenters in his latest Guess The Context post, but as usual I don’t have even Clue One about what the context might be. He does title the post “Out of Context: May 2004″, so: is stupidly saying something out of context the context?

If I remember correctly (a dim possibility at best), my comment was supposed to be a caption for a picture of Dick Cheney with an oxygen mask over his mouth and his eyes glowing all Village of the Damned creepylike, which but of natch reminded me of Frank Booth in “Blue Velvet”. Wha’d I do, caption the wrong pic? Misspell “Pabst”? Ehhh. Not a single synapse is firing, Norb.

Posted: September 23rd, 2004 under General.
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Just listened for the first time to her double CD Get Away From Me, and I’m reeling from the shock. Feels like I just had a big vat of icewater dumped over my head. No — Better: feels like I just ran outta the sauna and jumped into Lake Superior in the middle of November. Bracing is the idea I’m (feebly) reaching for.
I think I just heard the Best. Song. Ever. …for those times when –much as I love men– and by that I mean Men, you know, collectively: the Concept, the Idea of Men — they just plain piss me off. Read, then go listen. Yow!

IT’S A POSE

Jimmy, you know my love is true
and Davy, you know I love only you
and Mitchie, you give meaning to every day
and Nathan, hold on I got somethin’ to say
menfolk they need their women
but women don’t need their men
ladies can walk away grinnin’
but guys act surprised
I thought I was your man
why’d you leave me baby
well sir here’s a maybe
maybe it’s because we can
“what the hell do you mean?”
well for instance
you get a one you want twofold
“and what else?”
you’re a fiend, you’re tight-fisted
got no moral molars
shrug your shoulders
sell your soul to get your gold
but hey hey hey
that ain’t nothin’ to do with you
you’re a sensitive Joe I’m forgettin’
but every woman knows
it’s a pose, just a pose

You’re preenin’ in your armchair
and I’m steamin’ at your knee
go on pontificatin’ like I care
Peter Lorre, then a story about AC/DC
Harvard-educated, frustrated dictator
tyrant with a PhD
“what the hell do you mean?”
well for instance
you have started every war
“and what else?”
you’re obscene, a coincidence
get your pornos from Time Warner
who is fornicatin’ foreign shores
but hey hey hey
that ain’t nothin’ to do with you
you’re a sensitive Joe, I’m forgettin’
but every woman knows
it’s a pose, just a pose

Sammy, oh let me put away the kettle
oh no honey
your arrogance is what makes you special
and Manny, of course
when you leave you are missed
fellas can’t you see I’m pissed
tryin’ to enjoy my readin’
but you insist on interpretin’ text
oh go on fuck off I’m pleadin’
every sentence is a pretext for sex sex sex sex
god you went to Oxford
head still in your boxers
but you’re male so what should I expect?
“what the hell do you mean?”
well for instance
you’ve committed every rape
“and what else?”
I won’t heed your insistence
Mr. copulatin’ populatin’ masturbatin’ denigratin’
Birth of a Nation instigatin’ violator of my escape
but hey hey hey, that ain’t nothin’ to do with you
you’re a sensitive Joe, I’m forgettin’
but every woman knows
it’s a pose, just a pose
heaven knows
the world’s your ho
but she’s gettin’ too old
for your pose
oh, there she goes

Posted: September 23rd, 2004 under General.
Comments: none

There must be something I like about ambulating the ancient canine at 5am every day. It’s a habit I find easy to keep, because I never miss a day, unless it’s raining, like yesterday. How incredibly pleasant to just be outside in the dark and the quiet and with nobody around except the newspaper delivery lady and the occasional jogger. The venerable pup lives for those walks, too. Nearly 12 now, and still pulls at the leash half the time. Must go faster. Must go faster! Must sniff everything! Must pee on things every 5 steps of the way!

This is one of the early-morning class days for ETU; he’s out the door by 6 for the PSAT Prep class. YTU continues to sleep until 6:30; yesterday he made the astounding admission that after college he intends to “do some kind of work for a couple years, to make a good deal of money” and then he’s going to move up to Ely and live there for the rest of his life. Kid loves the Boundary Waters.

Posted: September 23rd, 2004 under General.
Comments: none

No, he’s not infallible, but I think Michael Moore gets it right when he advises us to buck up and tough it out and just get the job done. I swear, if I read even one more sentence of this verbal handwringing weepin- and- a- wailin so many Dems have been doing, I’m going to puke. No more. Put your game faces on. Do what needs to be done. Sign up to take people to the polls. Talk up voting to every woman you meet. Make sure they know how to register, before or on election day. Don’t waste even a single minute more in negative thinking or flaming the opposition.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s fun to flame the righty blogs – I did it myself last month, leaving about a dozen French Taunter-worthy squibs on TTLB during the initial Shifty Boat Liars orgasm. I thought, Jebus, why should the 14 year olds and the bugwits have all the fun? ( Sorry, all you 14 year olds out there.) I have never been so violently screechy and impolite in conversation in all my life, but hell –what am I saving it for?!
It’s not that I think I’m particularly astute or eloquent. There are thousands of bloggers out there who write rings around me in their sleep on their worst day ever. But even for the slowcoaches like me there’s a time and place for dishing the sarcasm and farting in the general direction of prissy self-righteous pissbrains like NZ , and last month was one of those times.

Not now, tho. Now is time to get serious, stay in Adult mode, and do some serious adult speaking and doing. Have hope. Banish negativity. Get the job done.

Posted: September 22nd, 2004 under General.
Comments: none

If you knew with absolute certainty that the Killian memos were faked, and you took that knowledge along with what we do know to be true, i.e.:

The Republicans are actively discouraging and dissuading blacks and women from voting;

The electoral college process makes the votes from 10-15 swing states all-important and the votes from every other state virtually worthless;

The outcome will be influenced by faulty and sometimes fraudulent ballot-counting;

Every single one of the pimply, pissypants neocon bloggers in Blogistan is doing an ecstatic, if pathetic, version of a Bush Victory dance right now, as of Tuesday September 21st, because they really believe they’ve had some kind of influence in this election so far, and it’s in the bag for Bush, and they brought down that big bad evil Dan Rather ;

….knowing all of this, ask yourself: Are you going to stop now? Are you going to Not vote?, and Not speak?, and Not stand up for what you believe in?

Ask yourself.

Posted: September 20th, 2004 under General.
Comments: none

Avast, ye — You know, the only problem with TLAP Day is turnin’ the piratical parsin’ OFF afterward. Well, that ain’t too bad, as problems go. Guess we’ll just have ter Keep TLAP Day In Our Hearts All Year ‘Round. Yarrrr!!

I spent the entire afternoon yesterday with Cap’n Vallo and Ojo and Humble Bellows and the rest of the scurvy crew, but now it’s Monday and back to work. I’m asking for November 2nd off, and will be spending election day shuttling people to and from the polling places. Also I’m signed up for the Take Five effort, where we make sure at least 5 other women get to the polling places.

Time to head off to work; will post more this afternoon.

Posted: September 20th, 2004 under General, TLAP day.
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